Where did it go wrong for Chelsea?

Chelsea can only win the league if Liverpool and Manchester City lose both of their last two games and the Blues win their final game - not going to happen, and it caps a miserable few weeks for Jose Mourinho's men.

But who is to blame? It's hard to look past Mourinho - especially as his mind games (which used to rile everyone) have turned on him and seem to be in his head now.

Jose doesn't seem to know his best team, what tactics to play or how to manage his young stars. Mourinho never used to turn on his own players - and his players always backed him to the hilt. But Eden Hazard speaking out on Chelsea's negative tactics would never have happened in Mourinho's first spell at Chelsea, or his time at Inter Milan.

He's always been good at getting everyone on board, and he usually does it by picking on one of his team's stars or someone who thought they were immune from criticism, as he did with Juan Mata this year.

Chelsea will no doubt strengthen over the summer, and this will be the real test of the Special One (a term I am loathed to use). They need two strikers - Torres, Eto'o and Ba will have to go. Maybe not all of them, but at least 2. If it's Romelu Lukaku, Diego Costa, Edinson Cavani or Didier Drogba (he will be back at Stamford Bridge) who comes in, they need to know exactly where they stand. There can't be a sham like this season. It's hard to watch Fernando Torres so low on confidence - he's a shell of the player he was. And for once, Mourinho hasn't backed his own players.

They also need to strengthen in midfield. Lampard isn't the same player and Nemanja Matic has to become the focal point of the team. Sure, sell David Luiz and get someone more disciplined in, but then Oscar, Hazard, Schurrle and Willian need to produce more. Ramires is a box-to-box guy, but there's not a great deal of quality there. Also, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Petr Cech have to accept smaller, or non-existent, roles too. They are past their best. There, I said it. Jose needs to build again, although those three will be very hard to replace.

For once, I think Mourinho's team lacked identity this season, and reverted to negative tactics to grind out results. It's not that different from what Rafa Benitez was doing - and Jose won't want to carry on like that.

It's almost like Jose didn't want to win anything this year, read into that what you will.

 

It wasn't just Jose who got a little excited!

Fair play to Chelsea, and especially Jose Mourinho.

He threw on extra strikers and put PSG under pressure, proving that more teams should go for it earlier in the game. Jose put Demba Ba on with 25 mins plus stoppage time to go, and then Fernando Torres with 10 left. PSG should have won the tie when Cavani was through on goal, but at that point Chelsea were making all the running.

Mourinho is now 8-0 in Champions League semi-finals, and Chelsea are in the competition's last 4 for the 7th time in the last 11 years.

Tell that to David Speedie, John Bumstead and Kerry Dixon.

Maybe they'll get as excited as the players did last night!!

Will Bale play in the Madrid derby? Does Jose miss Fergie?

Will Gareth Bale play in the Madrid derby this weekend? With help from referees, Real probably don't need him as they'll get another 95th minute penalty if the result isn't going their way anyway. Someone should let the officials know that General Franco died in 1975, so they don't need to fear being sent to a forced labor camp if they don't give Real all the decisions. Oh wait, there is money involved? Bribery and match fixing? Or you just want to be loved by millions of fans rather than the 50,000 that the smaller clubs have?

Anyway, getting off topic. Bale has already earned close to $1.5 million in his brief time with Real Madrid, and I'm sure he'll want to start showing he's worth the money. He's not fit, but he'll have to be on his game if Real are to beat Atletico. Diego Costa, Raul Garcia and David Villa have led Atletico to a perfect 6 wins form 6 to start La Liga, keeping them tied with Barcelona and 2 points ahead of their city rivals.

Should be a great game on Saturday night.

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The early game on Saturday in England pits Porto's best two managers of recent times against each other. Jose Mourinho takes his Chelsea team to White Hart Lane to face Andre Villas-Boas' much improved Spurs team. The two managers have been having a little spat ahead of the game, but most of that is probably due to the face Jose misses Alex Ferguson. He's got no-one to really duel with anymore, and he's tired of calling Arsene Wenger a 'voyeur'. 

Spurs seem to know their best XI, although Jermain Defoe must be pushing for a start as he keeps scoring whenever he gets a chance. Mourinho on the other hand has a lot of options, but can't seem to get his strikers to find their form yet. I'd go with Torres, but Eto'o is likely to play (and he's due a goal)/

Steer clear of the Sunday games, there's nothing to see there. Not too much else on the Saturday either, although it will be interesting to see if Manchester City can maintain some of their recent form, and wether United can win against West Brom without van Persie or any other creative players (as Kagawa still can't get a start).

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The pick of the other games in Europe for me is the Turin derby. Juventus against Torino should be a good game, and I'm interested to see Alessio Cerci who is the top scorer with 5 in Serie A so far.

Mourinho reacts to getting an away point

This seems more like the reaction that most of us had when yesterday's yawn-fest was over, but Jose shows that getting another point on the board is as important as ever.

Chelsea usually play with no strikers when Fernando Torres is out there, but playing 6 midfielders last night was more negative that the Boring One usually is. They looked solid at the back, but you should when you put 10 behind the ball - parking the bus seems like it's now a tactic Mourinho wants to use (not that United offered much).

And don't get me started on how the commentators/reporters got a chubb on for Rooney - what did he do? Played a few nice passes, ran around and had a decent shot or two - exactly what any professional should do if they are getting paid to play football.

Mourinho shows what he really thinks of Lambert

Chelsea boss admits Villa were unlucky not to get a point

Chelsea maintained their 100% start to the season with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa last night, but they were probably fortunate to still be playing with 11 when they got the winner. Typical that it should be the man who should have been sent off that scores, but that's the way it always seems to go. I can't understand why a penalty wasn't awarded against John Terry, but visiting teams rarely get those decisions at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or Maine Road (I can't be bothered to look up what their new sponsored ground is called).

Jose said that Paul Lambert complained about every decision, and admitted that he was like that when he was younger - yes Mourinho is 6 years older, just is a handsome bastard! But my undercover research shows what Jose really thought...